Preparation of Promised day is complete with all the sacrifices aligned like a circle of dominoes.

Gomen~ I couldn’t keep up with the RAWs this time around. Too much happening on the weekend; however, here are the highlights of the episode:

Bradley’s IT!

We are back to Fu-jisan who is all ready to hold no punches towards Bradley for making his granddaughter rip her own arm. The action is quite intense and fast this time around. Any complaints that I had in the last episode are null and void. Along with Greed/Lin he wages super fast attacks on Bradley, not giving him one single second to think. However, being a homunculus has its perks and he does find an opening cutting Fu-jisan’s forehead open.

Lin takes over Greed and saves him before Bradley could finish him with a deathblow but he’s still injured badly. Fuhrer finds the time to mock his concern over people he can easily throw away. Lin makes it known that he would never become such a King who abandons his nation. Fu-jisan in a last attempt to finish Bradley, sacrifice himself going all out by lighting the bombs strapped to his body.

The way Bradley cut off the heads of explosives made me scream in frustration. However, Buccaneer joins the fray in an opportune time piercing Bradley through Fu-jisan finally giving him a fatal wound and a reason for Fu to pass on smiling. Lin/Greed doubles the attack with a speed never shown before, getting another solid blow in.

Ran Fan finally appears. Hearing that Bradley’s at the gate and destroying Briggs’ soldiers and tanks like toys, she makes her way towards them; only to find her grandfather taking his last breaths.

The Two Heroines:

Izumi and Olivier are downright scary to the Brigadier General that Izumi saved from being eaten alive by the immortal army. They finally find out that the army has been supporting Father to gain immortality and power by sacrificing civilians; Bradley being a pawn to accomplish this.

He also has the gall to explain the “All is one and one is all” concept around civilians of Amestris that they would not be destroyed but ‘reconstructed’ as in alchemy and would have the honour to reside in their leaders. Izumi quite rightly smacks him with her sandal. She asks the soldiers, would they still like to follow such leaders. The soldiers finally see the truth and take off their army insignias to think for themselves rather than mindlessly following orders.

Olivier calls the central command to get update and is informed about the spreading central soldiers against Briggs. She tells them to abandon her if things got too dangerous. The only escape route seems the tunnel going directly underground from Fuhrer’s chamber.

While they make their way down, Izumi explains human transmutation and the gate of truth, to open which one has to pay a toll in the form of sacrifice from their bodies (like she and Elric brothers did). Olivier admires the honest naivety of Ed for not letting any harm come to his loved ones, different from every State Alchemist and dog of the military she knows. Izumi adds that it’s more like the resolve of an unreasonable child than anything else. She decides to dig a tunnel to escape but the Armstrong siblings and a mix of Briggs and ex-Amestris soldiers decide to stay back and fight.

Team Elric:

Ed along with Scar, Mustang and Liza come across the gold-toothed doctor, while making their way towards Father. He stands on a half-made transmutation circle and calls some friends over, who turn out to be discarded Kings. They distract them with a lot of slashing and similar moves as Bradley, while the doc continues drawing a suspicious looking transmutation circle. On the other hand, Al, Marcoh, Yoki and Heinkel make their way to underground on foot after crashing the gateway car.

Shipper mode activated: Don’t they make a nice pair?

Creeeeeeeeeeepyyyy and disturbing!

DAWWW~ Cute Bradley? How can I hate him naaaaooo?!

We all know about how Bradley became the King after successfully taking in a Philosopher’s Stone but what about the many students who trained alongside him? They are not like the immortal army but discarded soldiers whose life the doc uses to complete the five-point circle activating the nationwide transmutation circle, connected by the five research laboratories. The discarded soldiers are completely consumed by the transmutation circle.

An eye opens beneath Izumi, Ed and Al respectively, transporting them by deconstructing their physical form similar to while opening the gate of truth. They disintegrate over the gaping eye, fueled by the creeping black hands of the gate.

End Thoughts:Nanda koryaaaaa~! Shikshou~!

Talk about a cliffhanger! A BIG one at that! Finally I’m glad to see nothing revealed in preview, leaving the viewer stewing in their own juices of speculation, guesstimating.

Definition of human sacrifices important to Father: People who have either done human transmutation before or have the will to do so because they want to change something major in their life. So, the five point transmutation circle consuming five humans are targeted towards these important sacrifices (of which three have been revealed to be Izumi, Ed and Al). From the OP sequence, it’s clear that the fourth contender is Mustang but what about the fifth? Wasn’t it Marcoh or can it be Hohenheim, who is disturbingly out of the fray since Father challenged him.

Coming back to some thoughts on the episode, Fu is one cool oyaji! RIP! Who would have thought that out of action Buccaneer would again step in to fatally wound the untouchable Bradley? It was a touchy moment indeed and the stuff that makes this anime memorable. Lin/Greed should be mentioned as well because they seem to gel well together working as a team rather than a master and a host. I won’t be surprised if they agree to coexist rather than Greed taking over completely.

Ed sure looked pissed before getting transmuted to don’t-know-where. If this is the first step to Promised day, would the second step be using them together in similar fashion to open the gate or make another huge Philosopher’s Stone to give Father something more than immortality? We’ll have to watch the upcoming episodes to find out more.

Seven episodes to go… Eeek! Good that the anime is ending with manga like previously reported or I would’ve been on tenterhooks about the development till the end.

Preview shows Lin/Greed in a frenzied killer-mode after witnessing Fu-jisan’s death and Ran Fan crying over him. With the special ouroboros eye gone, would Bradley keep up with Lin/Greed? I wish to see his ass whipped for sure. So, till next time, Ja ne~

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The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].

3 Responses to “Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 57”

This is one heck of an episode, and I still can’t believe it’s wrapping up soon. Actually, I can’t believe it’s this close to the manga already (how did that happen?! I need to get caught up @[email protected]). The cliffhangers are probably going to get more and more crazy as the series approaches its finale (I can’t wait!).

That means you need to catch up on manga fast or wait for the anime to end and just read it later for some missed dialogues and sequences. But BONES is doing a good job of animating all the good and important parts. Aaah, can’t wait for the next epi!